- Hong Kong: Tiananmen activists convicted in “national security” show trial
Source: BBC News [UK]
“Two Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown have been found guilty of inciting others to subvert state power under the city’s controversial national security [sic] law. Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison after being convicted under the China-introduced law. Sentencing is expected at a later date. A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty in January. Lee and Chow ‘incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power’, according to a summary on Friday. Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.” (08/21/26)
- Bitcoin, ether and solana climb as another $1 billion shorts get wiped out
Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin rose above $77,000 in European morning hours on Friday as it advanced for a fifth straight day. The largest cryptocurrency is up about 8% in 24 hours and 22% over the week. Short sellers took another beating, as roughly $1.2 billion of short positions were liquidated over 24 hours out of $1.4 billion in total, across 156,211 traders, CoinGlass data show. … Bitcoin’s market value now stands at $1.5 trillion, still some 40% below the record above $126,000 set last October.” (08/21/26)
- Ukraine: Russian drones hit border crossing with Moldova in overnight strike
Source: euronews [EU]
“A border crossing with Moldova in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region was damaged by Russian drones overnight, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in a statement on Friday morning. Traffic through the Tabaky checkpoint has been suspended and diverted to other crossings, the border service said on Telegram. Moldovan authorities in Chișinău have been informed, the statement added. The announcement comes a day after a Romanian F-16 fighter jet destroyed an explosive-laden maritime drone close to Europe’s largest offshore gas project, hours after another drone entered the NATO member’s airspace and crashed near the Ukrainian border. … Some European officials described the incidents as Moscow testing NATO’s response, which raised questions about how prepared the alliance is against potential threats from Russia.” (08/21/26)
- Tunisia: Opposition protests against president amid economic discontent
Source: Reuters
“Activists and opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied took to the streets of Tunis on Thursday, calling for his departure and the restoration of democracy in the latest protest against his governance amid growing political and economic discontent. Hundreds of protesters said they reject ‘one-man rule’ and ‘a slide towards dictatorship,’ and urged the release of jailed opposition figures, activists and journalists. A similar demonstration took place last month, coinciding with the anniversary of measures by Saied on July 25, 2021, when he dismissed the government and later dissolved the elected parliament and began governing by decree.” (08/20/26)
- China: Regime Buys Saudi Crude in Rare Tender as Imports Stay Muted
Source: Bloomberg
“China has bought millions of barrels of Saudi crude offered via a rare tender and under long-term contracts, although overall purchases still remain well below pre-war levels. State-run refiners PetroChina Co. and Sinochem Group, along with Unipec — the trading arm of Sinopec Group — and private processor Rongsheng Petrochemical Co., bought a combined 10 million barrels of Arab Medium and Heavy grades in a tender, said traders familiar with the matter. The oil is for prompt loading. … Aramco offered spot supplies of sulfur-rich crude from locations outside of the Strait of Hormuz for loading as soon as this month. The grades are produced within the Persian Gulf, suggesting the kingdom may be finding ways to move more barrels through the waterway.” (08/20/26)
- Romania destroys marine drone near Neptun Deep gas project, minister says
Source: Reuters
“Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets to destroy a marine drone spotted a few hundred metres from the Black Sea gas project Neptun Deep, Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Thursday. The incident underscores the growing threat to critical energy infrastructure in the Black Sea from drones and mines linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine, with Neptun Deep expected to make Romania the European Union’s largest gas producer when it comes onstream in 2027. NATO-member Romania shares a 614-km (382-mile) land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones breaching its airspace over the last four years and mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade and energy routes. Thursday’s incident follows similar action earlier this month when army divers destroyed two Gerbera-type drones drifting in the exclusive economic zone near the offshore Neptun Deep project.” (08/20/26)
- FBI raids former congresscritter Eric Swalwell’s home, seizes devices in probe tied to sexual assault claims
Source: CNN
“Federal agents seized electronic devices from former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and then raided his home in Washington, DC, the next day as part of an ongoing probe connected to sexual assault allegations, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. Swalwell and his lawyer did not immediately respond to messages from CNN. Swalwell resigned from Congress in April after reporting from CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle detailed allegations of sexual misconduct. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department opened criminal investigations into Swalwell in the wake of the reporting. The raids this weekend are part of a federal investigation connected to the claims of sexual assault, the sources told CNN.” (08/20/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/20/politics/eric-swalwell-fbi-raid-sexual-assault-claims-invs
- Indonesia: Swiss tourist sentenced to a year in jail for insulting Bali’s sacred Day of Silence
Source: ABC News
“A court on the Indonesian resort island of Bali sentenced a Swiss tourist on Thursday to one year in prison for insulting a sacred Balinese Hindu observance. Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, 26, was found guilty of violating Indonesia’s new criminal code by posting social media messages about the Day of Silence, when people are required to stay home and are urged to remain silent and meditate. The Denpasar District Court determined that he posted the messages even after staff at the villa where he was staying informed him of the restrictions. ‘What the defendant did offended the Balinese people, hurt their faith and provoked public outrage,’ said presiding judge Tjokorda Putra Budi Pastima. ‘The defendant must be held accountable for his actions.'” (08/20/26)
- NASA calls off mission to save Swift Observatory telescope in space
Source: United Press International
“NASA and Katalyst Space have announced that the mission to boost the altitude of a Swift Observatory space telescope has failed. The announcement came down on Wednesday after an attempt to use the LINK spacecraft ran into altitude control issues, NASA and Katalyst Space said in a press release. The spacecraft was meant to raise NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher altitude. LINK is still set to attempt rendezvous and proximity operations with the Swift Observatory. … If the mission was successful, LINK would have allowed the Swift Observatory to extend its mission, the press release says. NASA expects Swift to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere this year.” (08/20/26)
- Global wheat buyers brace for supply squeeze amid Black Sea attacks
Source: Reuters
“Global wheat importers are bracing for tighter supplies as attacks on Black Sea grain infrastructure disrupt shipments, heightening food security risks for top buyers such as Egypt and Indonesia, while driving up prices. Benchmark Chicago futures have climbed more than 17% since the start of July, fuelled largely by a shortfall in Black Sea supplies, with physical prices making strong gains in rival exporters Argentina, Australia and the United States. … For now, stronger harvests across parts of the Middle East and North Africa have cushioned the immediate impact, with the Egyptian government procuring record volumes of local wheat and better rains boosting crop prospects in Morocco and Tunisia.” (08/20/26)
- CA: Stolen Lego sets worth nearly $30,000 found in desert
Source: SFGate
“Southern California law enforcement officials stumbled upon an abandoned vehicle in the desert containing Lego sets worth nearly $30,000, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced Wednesday. According to the Sheriff’s Department’s news release, on Monday around 11:30 p.m., Barstow officials discovered the Lego sets inside an unoccupied van at National Trails Highway and Pioneer Road in Newberry Springs. The van held 123 boxes of stolen McLaren F1 Lego sets, which are valued at about $230 per set. Police with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad confirmed that the sets were taken during a train robbery.” (08/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/stolen-lego-california-desert-22396751.php
- France: Former PM Fillon suspended from top French honor over fake jobs conviction
Source: Politico
“Former French Prime Minister François Fillon has been suspended for 10 years from the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit, after being found guilty of providing his wife with a fake job in which she was paid a salary using taxpayer money. The decision to suspend Fillon was published Thursday morning in the French official gazette. It was approved by President Emmanuel Macron after being recommended by the body tasked with handling disciplinary measures for the Légion d’honneur. The fake jobs scandal emerged during the campaign for the 2017 presidential election and cost Fillon a shot at the presidency, as he was a front-runner in the contest before the allegations emerged.” (08/20/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/francois-fillon-suspended-highest-french-honor-fake-jobs-scandal/
- Mystery California lobbyist used bogus million-dollar boasts to land taxpayer contracts
Source: New York Post
“A Southern California lobbyist who interned in the Clinton administration with Monica Lewinsky has been making lofty claims to win taxpayer-funded contracts — but some of the cities and public agencies on his killer resumé say they couldn’t pick him out of a lineup. Jaime Rojas, president of Rojas Public Affairs, has been collecting thousands in taxpayer fees from a Southern California agency after he bragged about securing tens of millions in federal funds …. Rojas spoke before the Phelan Piñon Hills Community Services District board in January 2025, touting a record of securing more than $90 million in state and federal funding. The district subsequently awarded Rojas a contract paying $5,000 per month. But in documents submitted to that agency and others, Rojas’ firm has overstated or made up multimillion-dollar funding claims in writing while seeking taxpayer funds, including a three-year lobbying deal tied to Gypsum Canyon Memorial Park and a planned state veterans cemetery in Orange County.” (08/20/26)
- US bond yields edge higher as traders digest Treasury debt buyback plan
Source: CNBC
“Bond yields edged higher on Thursday morning after pulling back sharply during the previous session following the Treasury Department’s move to dramatically ramp up government debt repurchases in a bid to shore up longer-dated debt. … The Treasury Department, led by Scott Bessent, said Wednesday it would double the size of its debt repurchases, mainly at the long-end of the yield curve. The move sent yields tumbling, with the 30-year yield plunging more than 10 basis points on the day and the 10-year note yield falling more than 6 basis points, reversing this week’s earlier advance. Treasury yields have been pushing steeply higher since June, touching levels not seen since before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.” (08/20/26)
- UK, French, German, Italian and Canadian regimes condemn Israeli regime’s West Bank squat project
Source: BBC News
“Israel’s plans to open up tenders for the construction of some 1,200 [squatter] homes in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank have sparked fresh condemnation by major Western powers. In a joint statement, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Canada called the decision ‘unacceptable’ and urged Israel to ‘retract the plans immediately’. All s[squats] are illegal under international law and, under international pressure, Israel held off for decades on plans to build in E1 to the east of Jerusalem. Many of its allies and Palestinians argued this development would deal a major blow to hopes of a two-state solution, effectively cutting the West Bank in two and isolating east Jerusalem.” (08/20/26)
- Trump picks White House aide Dr. Heidi Overton for top FDA job
Source: ABC News
“President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has nominated White House Domestic Policy Council Deputy Director Heidi Overton to be the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. … Overton has been Trump’s deputy assistant during his second term, advising him on health policies, including lowering prescription drug prices. Overton has stood alongside Trump for several major health announcements at the White House, including his executive order signing on childhood vaccines earlier this month. She has espoused anti-abortion views and supported reductions to the childhood immunization schedule, touting the use of ‘gold-standard science’ and restoring vaccination authority to parents while at that executive order signing.” (08/19/26)
https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-picks-dr-heidi-overton-top-fda-job/story?id=135777387
- FBI arrests woman who allegedly plotted ISIS-linked attack on New York state Capitol building
Source: Fox News
“A New York woman plotted to bomb the New York State Capitol and kill state senators inside, repeatedly surveilling the building and buying materials for an explosive device before the FBI arrested her, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Fox News Digital Thursday. Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, is charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS. The FBI says she pledged allegiance to the terror group, discussed disguising a bomb in a DoorDash delivery bag and wanted to carry out the attack when state senators were meeting. … At a news conference Thursday afternoon, FBI officials said Bowie’s alleged plans extended beyond an attack on the state Capitol and included ambitions to carry out additional violence after fleeing the country.” (08/20/26)
- China: Court sentences founder of troubled property developer Evergrande to life in prison
Source: NBC News
“Chinese property developer Hui Ka Yan, founder of the Evergrande real estate group, has been sentenced to life in prison and the companies fined a total of $2.3 billion, a court in the southern city of Shenzhen said Thursday. The decision marks a milestone in Evergrande’s saga after it collapsed with more than $300 billion in liabilities when Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate industry in 2020. That triggered a crunch among many developers and brought on a downturn in the property market that has weighed on the broader economy ever since. The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court convicted Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, and Evergrande of engaging in large-scale financial fraud in inflating the group’s assets and concealing its liabilities.” (08/20/26)
- Still recovering from Hurricane Lala, Hawaii prepares for a possible weekend cyclone
Source: SFGate
“Communities still recovering from last weekend’s hurricane in Hawaii could get pounded again in coming days from another tropical system gaining strength over warm Pacific waters. Hurricane Lala tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees, covered roads in mud and rock and left many households without electricity. With thousands of homes and businesses still in the dark Thursday, forecasters warned another tropical cyclone is likely to form southeast of the islands soon. A depression moving west and northwest could become a tropical storm later Thursday and pass near or south of Hawaii’s Big Island over the weekend or early next week, according to the U.S. Central Pacific Hurricane Center.” (08/20/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/still-recovering-from-hurricane-lala-hawaii-22396522.php
- Publisher of US military newspaper resigns over differences with regime
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, a newspaper focused on the United States military, has resigned amid what he described as disagreements with the Defense Department‘s leadership. Max D Lederer Jr announced his retirement in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. The memo suggested that Lederer clashed with the administration of President Donald Trump over government efforts to seek greater editorial control over the publication, The Associated Press reported. … Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accused the publication of promoting ‘woke distractions’. The Trump administration has also slammed the outlet for bringing attention to poor conditions and declining morale on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, involved in the war on Iran. Founded in 1861, Stars and Stripes has been an institution in the US military for well over a century.” (08/20/26)
- I Bought Beans at the Government Store
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ryan Devine“Azalea Fresh Market opened last September to address a growing demand for a grocery store in downtown Atlanta. Its opening was the result of a partnership between the City of Atlanta, the Independent Grocers Alliance, and a successful local mini-grocery store chain, Savi Provisions. With no major grocery company inclined to open a location in the downtown area, the City of Atlanta managed to contribute roughly $8 million in cash, loans, and grants to provide the infrastructure needed to help open the business …. Given the intent behind the establishment of this store, it’s difficult to imagine why it’s gaining so much praise from advocates for Zohran Mamdani’s proposed government-owned markets. Mamdani’s goal isn’t to target food deserts; he aims to outprice private grocers in areas where supply is abundant because he’s convinced that businesses are price-gouging consumers.” (08/20/26)
https://fee.org/articles/i-bought-beans-at-the-government-store/
- Note to Rick Scott: Stop Tweeting and Cut Up That Government Credit Card
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Over the course of Scott’s relatively short career in the US Senate — he took office in 2019 and is now in his second term — he’s voted for trillions of dollars in deficit spending, especially military spending. Since Scott took office, the US government’s debt has gone from $16 trillion to $40 trillion. His party has controlled the US Senate throughout his tenure, and the House of Representatives for about half of that tenure. Not one thin dime gets borrowed or spent unless the both the House and Senate pass a bill, and the margins are often close enough that one or two votes — including Scott’s — decide the outcome. Scott’s perennial ‘someone should do something!’ tweets on the debt might be good politics, but even a cursory look at his actions demonstrates that he’s someone NOT doing something.” (08/20/26)
- Conservatives Are Wrong About Morality, Responsibility, and Freedom
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“One of the fundamental differences between libertarians and conservatives pertains to the concepts of morality, responsibility, and freedom. Conservatives are wrong and libertarians are right on this issue. Conservatives hold that before people can be permitted to be free, they have to be moral and responsible. … Libertarianism holds that people have the right to be free regardless of whether they are sufficiently moral or responsible. Freedom is a natural, God-given right. … It is only through freedom that people can become moral or responsible. The conscience is like a muscle—it must be constantly exercised to be strengthened.” (08/20/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/20/conservatives-are-wrong-about-morality-responsibility-and-freedom/
- A Wealth Tax Built on Billionaires Who Aren’t Really Billionaires
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“There’s an old saying: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. A similar idea underscores the debate over wealth taxes in California and elsewhere: Those who can, build companies. Those who can’t, devise ways for the government to take shares in what others have built. This new version might sound unfair until you listen to Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D–Calif.) pitch for an allegedly onetime, 5 percent wealth tax on California billionaires, tied to November’s vote on Proposition 40. Space constraints prevent us from surveying all that’s wrong with wealth taxes here. But as a reminder, they raise very little income for the government, are an administrative nightmare, could be unconstitutional, and create enormous disincentives to build the kind of wealth that creates jobs and funds government services through other taxes in the first place.” (08/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/20/a-wealth-tax-built-on-billionaires-who-arent-really-billionaires/
- Don’t Let Washington Pick the Next Apple
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl“AI firms, whether OpenAI, Anthropic, or competitors that do not yet exist, should remain free from Washington’s ownership. Washington cannot credibly act as regulator and shareholder at the same time. Nor does Washington possess special knowledge about which AI company, model, or technical architecture will prevail. If the US government selects an AI champion, that company could become insulated from market forces in an industry that will help define the future. The lesson of BlackBerry and Apple is not that OpenAI will lose or that Anthropic will win. The lesson is that nobody knows which company will succeed, and Washington should not decide.” (08/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/dont-let-washington-pick-the-next-apple/
- Iran proves that it might change its military leaders, but it’s not changing strategy
Source: Fox News
by Erfan Fard“Military appointments in authoritarian states, particularly during wartime, reveal priorities, threat perceptions, institutional loyalties and leadership fears. The new military and security hierarchy under Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei should therefore be read as more than the reconstruction of a command structure damaged by war. It is an order of battle with two purposes: confronting the United States and Israel abroad and preserving the Islamic Republic against instability at home. Those elevated are not a postwar generation seeking accommodation with Iran’s adversaries, but veterans of the revolutionary-security establishment, formed through war, intelligence operations, ideological conflict, asymmetric warfare and domestic coercion. Claims that leadership decapitation has produced meaningful regime change in Tehran should be treated with caution.” (08/20/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/iran-proves-might-change-military-leaders-not-changing-strategy
- Alligator Alcatraz may be gone. Its shameful history remains
Source: Palm Beach Post
by Mark V Barrow, Jr.“The migrant detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz is closed, but much about it remains unresolved. There are lawsuits over detainees’ treatment, environmental claims over damage to protected wetlands and uncertainty about the future of the airstrip it was built on. One aspect of the facility has drawn far less attention, though ― the name itself, and the long history of associating alligators with racist ideas about people of color. … As early as the 18th century, French explorers and naturalists began claiming that alligators and crocodiles showed a preference for attacking and consuming people of African descent. Plantation owners in the South eagerly repeated these stories because they discouraged enslaved people from escaping into marshes and swamps, where pursuing them proved difficult. The idea gained much wider traction after the Civil War.” (08/20/26)
- What is Trump afraid we will see about how the tariffs were formulated?
Source: The Hill
by Phillip W Magness and Sara Albrecht“When the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative unveiled its now-infamous ‘Liberation Day’ tariff formula in April 2025, economists quickly noticed that something was not right. At first glance, the formula looked impressive. It had Greek symbols, academic citations, and all the trappings of serious economic analysis. But once economists began examining it, the sophistication quickly fell away. Key terms, they noticed, effectively cancel one another out, leaving little more than a calculation driven by bilateral trade deficits. For one of us, an economist, that raised a simple question: How did this formula come to be? So he filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the records behind it. … When the agency finally responded, it said it had found 31 pages of responsive records. It would release none of them — not one email, calculation or even redacted paragraph.” (08/20/26)
- An Africa that prizes economic (and political) freedoms
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“In recent years, Africa’s economies have felt a powerful impact from drought, debt, and violent discord. Yet, amid the turbulence, the southern nation of Zambia has charted a determined, if halting, course toward potential growth. Its latest election, on Aug. 13, set another example in its ability to achieve economic gains while (mostly) protecting its democratic system. The election ‘has far greater international significance than the country’s landlocked status and modest economic size might imply’, in the view of a senior researcher at Chatham House, a respected London-based think tank. President Hakainde Hichilema, who was elected to a second five-year term with 60% of the vote, will govern ‘a country at the centre of Africa’s critical minerals competition, debt diplomacy and shifting regional alliances’, wrote Christopher Vandome this month. And, he added, ‘Zambia’s prized democratic reputation will also be tested.'” (08/19/26)
- The Jason Arday tragedy cannot justify a crackdown on the press
Source: Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin“UK nonprofit the Good Law Project is pushing an open letter, currently with over 122,000 signatures, calling for Prime Minister Andy Burnham ‘to commission an immediate public inquiry into how to ensure a responsible press given its contribution to Dr Arday’s tragic death.’ Several members of Parliament signed on. ‘Self-regulation of the press has comprehensively failed,’ the letter adds. So the government must then regulate it. Another petition calls for Arday’s Law, ‘legislative action to impose limitations on the number of news articles published about a single individual within a defined time frame’ to ‘work towards creating a framework that balances the public’s right to information with an individual’s right to privacy and mental well-being.'” (08/20/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-jason-arday-tragedy-cannot-justify
- Fourth Circuit Strikes Down SC’s Restrictions on Absentee Ballots under 26th Amendment
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“This week, the Fourth Circuit issued a major ruling striking down South Carolina’s limits on absentee ballots. The relatively novel basis of this opinion (by Judges Roger Gregory, Judge Pamela Harris, and Judge Julius Richardson) was that it violated the 26th Amendment as discrimination on the basis of age for voters. The opinion conflicts with rulings in other circuits and, in my view, is challengeable. … Under Section 7-15-320 of the South Carolina Code, four categories of ‘[q]ualified electors’ are allowed to vote absentee in an election: electors who are physically disabled; members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents; persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election; and ‘persons sixty-five years of age or older’. S.C. Code § 7-15-320(B).” (08/20/26)
- George Orwell’s Warning to Britain
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Mike Fairclough“Great Britain, where I live, once prided itself on eccentricity, irreverence, and the right to say unpopular things. Today, people living in my country have been arrested over social media posts and other digital communications. Some have been imprisoned. Online censorship has become more sophisticated, surveillance technology continues to advance, and cancel culture has taught millions of people that expressing the wrong opinion can carry severe consequences. As a result, people are self-censoring out of fear of reprisals. Books have a particular role to play here. They give people permission to explore ideas away from the noise and intimidation of social media. A reader can encounter something privately, consider it, question it, disagree with it, return to it, and perhaps find the confidence to openly express an opinion they had previously been afraid to voice. This is why my publishing house, Free Speech Press, is launching with a reprint of George Orwell’s 1984.” (08/20/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/george-orwells-warning-to-britain/
- Today In Dystopia: Burning Books For Israel, Burning Books For AI
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Today in dystopia they’re really going after books. A library in Sydney has removed the book How to Sell a Genocide by Adam Johnson from its shelves after Zionists complained about its criticisms of Israeli mass atrocities in Gaza. … ‘They seem to be objecting largely based on the title using the word ‘genocide’,’ Johnson commented. ‘But ‘genocide’ is not my word, or my finding. The fact of genocide in Gaza is the overwhelming consensus of the human rights world, and it is a wholly mainstream opinion among those tasked with studying and determining such matters.’ So in Australia they’re now banning books for Israel. I guess it was only a matter of time.” (08/20/26)
- From Spectral Evidence to Self-Evident Truths
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig“Bathshua Pope, sometimes referred to by her maiden name of Folger, lived with her husband and mother-in-law at a sawmill in Salem. When the mill suffered some kind of mechanical breakdown in 1692, it was attributed to supposed dealings with the devil. Bathshua was among the accusers, ultimately providing ‘evidence’ that helped send at least three people to the hangman’s noose. … Bathshua died in 1726, three years after her restless teenage nephew left Boston to seek work as a typesetter in Philadelphia, betting his future on the burgeoning industry of the printing press. As far as we can tell, he never mentioned his aunt. … The woman who had participated in actions scarcely distinguishable from human sacrifice, and her nephew, the boy whose name would echo through the ages as a harbinger of modernity: Benjamin Franklin.” (08/20/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/from-spectral-evidence-to-self-evident
- Of course we can make ourselves poorer — but why bother?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“There are things it is possible to do and which are also things we might not want to do – however possible they are …. ‘Food Foundation sounds alarm over supply risks and price shocks as about 40% of Britain’s food is imported’ …. Yes, of course we can grow the food we need in Britain. … Trade means we can have more, different, foods cheaper and also that added bonus of leaving a bit of land for the wildlife. Bonzer, eh? We are richer through trade. At which point we’ve an actual think tank insisting we must make ourselves poorer by giving up those advantages of trade.” (08/20/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/of-course-we-can-make-ourselves-poorer-but-why-bother
- The Price of Portland’s Luxury Beliefs
Source: Law & Liberty
by Harrison Kass“Portland, Oregon exists in a pretzel-like, seemingly unsustainable juxtaposition to itself. Golden hour moments of pastoral perfection, in the shadow of mountains, at the banks of rivers. Afternoons in coffee shops and art museums and concert halls. The best food in the world. Meth psychotics, stalking the pavement, screaming at the sky. Homeless camps that sprawl. Emergency responders too overworked to respond. The city offers both paragon examples of urban living and seeming proof that western civilization has failed—often within mere blocks of one another. While paradoxical, the conditions on the ground aren’t mysterious, or arbitrary, or altogether externally-driven. The conditions are the logical end-result of explicit policy, a reflection of legislative and executive priorities.” (08/20/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-price-of-portlands-luxury-beliefs/
- Trump Administration Accomplishments: October 2025 to Present, Part One
Source: American Greatness
by Stu Cvrk“Last November, an article was posted that summarized Trump Administration Accomplishments in 2025 through October. At that time, President Trump had just signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, brokered a string of ceasefires, and was nine months into what was shaping up to be one of the most consequential presidencies in American history. Since then, the pace has, if anything, accelerated, with a full-scale operation resulting in the capture of a hemispheric narco-dictator, the implementation of the largest tax cut package in a generation, a childhood vaccine schedule overhaul, a new NATO spending baseline, and a genuinely dangerous stretch of open war with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz that is still not fully resolved as of this writing. Let us pick up where that article left off and summarize Trump administration accomplishments since then.” (08/20/26)
- Economic Fascism and the “Megadeal”
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato“A system with a small number of massive corporate conglomerates under which 99.9% of us have no substantive power whatsoever can never be one consistent with liberal democracy, the rule of law, or economic freedom. Those who focus their attention myopically on the current regime and the corruption thereof show that they understand neither the nature nor the scale of the social problem, and for this reason they can be of only little help in the struggles to come. Indeed, many are no less custodians of the political and economic status quo, and eagerly defend this system of corporate domination and economic fascism. The formal shape of or label on the structure of ownership and power tells us nothing on its own, our ideological delusions notwithstanding.” (08/20/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/20/economic-fascism-and-the-megadeal/
- DoD guts & conceals weapons testing. What could go wrong?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst“After cutting down the DOT&E to a skeleton crew, the Pentagon now wants to remove 25 years worth of its reports from public view.” (08/20/26)
- Postliberalism Is Not About Economic Transformation
Source: The Bulwark
by Matt McManus“Disregard the empty allegations of ‘socialism.’ The real problem with postliberalism is its underlying authoritarian vision.” (08/20/26)
- Why Paul Krugman Is Wrong About Medicare for All
Source: Common Dreams
by Dr. Rob Stone“Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2008 and must be a smart fellow. He wrote on Substack August 11, ‘The U.S. Healthcare System is Already Mostly Socialized, and there’s nothing radical about wanting to end insurance company parasitism’. Krugman explained that taxpayers currently pay two-thirds of US healthcare costs. It’s not just the costs of Medicare, Medicaid, the Indian Health Service, the VA, and the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, but also employers deduct their contribution for their employees’ private insurance as a tax-deductible expense, while the employees owe no income tax on the value of employers’ contribution. Maybe that’s a bit wonky, but the point is simple – when we give tax breaks that subsidize heath insurance for employees, then the rest of us taxpayers have to make up the difference.” (08/20/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/medicare-for-all-2677735164
- Really, O’Reilly? Bill Demands War Crimes In Iran
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Charles Goyette“Other Fox New hosts and contributors who ended up in the Trump administration include Sean Duffy, Jeanine Pirro, John Bolton, Larry Kudlow, Mike Walz, Dan Bongino, Sebastian Gorka, Mike Huckabee…There are more, but you get the idea. A preponderance of war enthusiasts, some for Iraq, others for Ukraine, all for Iran. O’Reilly supported all three wars. And since he was the biggest Fox star for sixteen years, one must assume he looms large in Trump’s consciousness. That makes his pathogenic influence especially menacing.” (08/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/really-oreilly-bill-demands-war-crimes-in-iran
- “We’ll Bomb the Sh*t Out of Them”: Trump and the War on Morality
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nolan Denaro“As a result of Trump’s loss at the hands of Iran, the American empire has been dealt a severe dent to its armor. The image of American bases scattered across the Middle East – once a symbol of military dominance – has been quite literally shattered. Trump can no longer rely on previously held assumptions about American power in order to get his way. Thus, he must lower himself rhetorically to the level of a brutal warlord.” (08/20/26)
- First, Do Less Harm.
Source: Liberalism.org
by David Mitchell“The idea of harm reduction begins with a realistic premise: people sometimes continue risky behavior despite prohibition, stigma, or advice to stop. Harm reduction policies attempt the opposite of a prohibition or abstinence approach. Harm reduction policies are based on the belief that lives can be saved by helping people move from more dangerous choices to less dangerous ones. Fentanyl test strips, vaping, and even ordinary automobile driving all demonstrate the promise of this approach and its limits. Harm reduction works best when the relative risks are clear, people can act on the information or substitute offered, and the intervention complements rather than replaces prevention and treatment. The lives saved, and the other harms prevented, extend both to those who’ve undertaken the risky behaviors and to nonparticipant bystanders.” (08/19/26)
- Here’s Trump’s Problem With Iran
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“The situation in Iran is going to hurt Republicans in the fall. Not because the majority of the American people want Iran to get a nuclear weapon or because Democrats in the media are lying about things, but it’s going to hurt Republicans because it is a major distraction from the things average voters care about. President Donald Trump either doesn’t see that or does not care. Let me start by saying I firmly believe the world would be a better place without the Islamic Republic of Iran in it. They have been killing Americans and innocent civilians around the world for half a century, so wiping them out is something I fully support. The problem is we don’t have the will to actually do that. We have the ability and the technology, but the will matters more than anything else, and it just isn’t there.” (08/20/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/08/20/heres-trumps-problem-with-iran-n2681542
- America’s Authoritarian Fantasies
Source: The Next Move
by Evan Gottesman“Earlier this year, Donald Trump made some additions to the White House Palm Room: two photos of himself with autocratic leaders; one alongside Xi Jinping, the other with Vladimir Putin. The picture of the president with Putin, a memento from the Russian dictator’s 2025 Alaska visit, was placed above a photograph of Trump’s own granddaughter. Trump has since taken down the picture of his grandkid, but Putin is still there. Trump’s admiration for foreign authoritarians is shared by Hasan Piker, the influential political streamer who’s staged frequent interventions in Democratic primaries. Piker has interviewed numerous successful primary candidates on his stream, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, Chris Rabb, and Abdul El-Sayed. He praises Mao Zedong as one of the greats and dresses like him too. Piker even has a Chinese flag positioned prominently in the background of many of his streams.” (08/19/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/americas-authoritarian-fantasies
- What Did Fauci Mean by “Game On?”
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker“The release of the Fauci diaries has filled in some missing pieces. They help elucidate how the years of hell unfolded in Fauci’s own mind. Working with military intelligence and pharmaceutical companies, Fauci and his colleagues eventually hatched an audacious plan to delay natural immunity for a full ten months as they awaited both the November election and the viable release of the injectable product called a vaccine – all in the hope that it would be given credit for fixing the problem they created in the first place. This scheme, however, was Fauci’s personal Plan B. Plan A is revealed in the diaries. It was to bury the existence and spread of the virus in question within a broader fabric of a bad flu season.” (08/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/what-did-fauci-mean-by-game-on/
- MMT: A Political Movement without Serious Defenders
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Per Bylund“[M]ost, if not all, MMTers who have commented on my article have failed to read it as it was written. They all choose to read it as an Austrian attack on MMT rather than an assessment of a specific argument on its own merits. For this reason, they can attack it as flawed based on my being an Austrian economist rather than the actual arguments made in it. In a similar vein, Marxists could dismiss Böhm-Bawerk’s critique of Marx’s economics based solely on the fact that he was Austrian—regardless of what he said. Needless to say, this is highly unscholarly and unserious.” (08/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/mmt-political-movement-without-serious-defenders
- Liberia Joins Trump’s “Third-Country Deportation” Network
Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell“An Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flight landed in Liberia Thursday, likely carrying immigrants with no ties to the country, marking Liberia’s entrance into the Trump administration’s network of countries taking so-called third-country nationals. Liberia announced Tuesday it would accept up to 1,200 third-country nationals from the U.S. over the next year, starting with a group of 20 people scheduled to arrive Thursday. It described the arrangement, which will include deported people from countries in Africa and the Western Hemisphere, as a ‘humanitarian’ gesture in line with its history as a refuge for formerly enslaved Black Americans. The ICE charter flight believed to be carrying the immigrants was operated by Eastern Airlines and landed in the capital city of Monrovia on Thursday after leaving the ICE detention hub in Alexandria, Louisiana, on Wednesday night, flight data shows.” (08/20/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/20/liberia-joins-trumps-third-country-deportation-network/
- A Scandal’s Arc
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“When did you first hear the story of Jason Arday? In 2023, Mr. Arday became something of a public sensation in Great Britain, where his claims to being autistic, mute till age 11, and illiterate till 18 made a striking rag-to-riches/up-from-racism story upon his appointment as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge. The youngest Black professor at that institution ever. … a month ago, philosopher Nathan Cofnas published his exposé, which began with a litany of Arday’s autobiographical whoppers, not including the one I heard most bandied-about: that at age 7 the young Jason had been interviewed for the famous documentary Seven Up! — a glaring fib because the movie came out 21 years before Prof. Arday was born. … Jason Arday was found dead in his apartment. Suicide? That’s what many surmise, but police have only said his death was ‘unexpected but is not believed to be suspicious.'” (08/19/26)
- Inflation Is the State’s Contraceptive
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Angelo Monaco“From a pure free-market, Austrian, and public choice perspective, the long-term demographic decline of the native-born population is not an accidental social phenomenon. It is the predictable consequence of government growth, fiscal dominance, and irresponsible monetary expansion. When state spending exceeds tax revenues, the resulting deficits, inflation, and market distortions create structural disincentives that make multi-decade capital commitments—such as having and raising children—increasingly irrational for economic actors. From a strict market perspective, the declining birth rate of the domestic population is an unintended structural feedback loop of state expansion.” (08/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/inflation-is-the-states-contraceptive
- Can Antitrust Regulators Learn to Trust Consumers?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Tirzah Duren“Antitrust enforcement should preserve competition and respect consumer choice, not restrict both in pursuit of vague political goals.” (08/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/can-antitrust-regulators-learn-to-trust-consumers/
- AI data center opponents get water use argument all wrong
Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas“Data centers, the gigantic buildings that house the computing power behind the artificial intelligence boom, are wildly unpopular. A recent Gallup poll found that 7 in 10 Americans oppose one being built in their area. Most of those objections don’t hold up. In town after town, data centers have delivered real benefits to the communities willing to host them. Local officials should be welcoming these projects, not passing laws to keep them out.” (08/19/26)
- Actions more important than words
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“To discover who someone is, you have to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. Words are cheap, and lies come easy. This goes triple for government. A government that talks about your safety but does things that will make you less safe is not on your side.” (08/19/26)
- Trump’s Dictator Envy Is Once Again on Display in Tiff with South Korea
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“President Donald Trump’s decision to ‘substantially reduce’ joint military exercises between the armed forces of the United States and those of South Korea captures the distilled essence of the nation’s current chief executive in its combination of petulance and affection for autocrats. On the one hand, he wants to punish our allies in the Republic of Korea for withholding support for the U.S. war with Iran. Especially, though, he wants to avoid offending the communist dictator of North Korea by training alongside our democratic and relatively free allies on the Korean peninsula. … Unfortunately, Trump has a history of turning against our friends and maintaining a soft spot for those hostile to American values.” (08/19/26)
- The Political Orphanage, 08/20/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Chinese Lobbyists Hate California Pig Laws.” (08/20/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/chinese-lobbyists-hate-california-pig-laws
- Serious Trouble, 08/20/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Disney sues the FCC to vindicate its First Amendment rights; Luigi Mangione pleads guilty, and wants to avoid being prosecuted twice; AI gets an expert witness in trouble.” (08/20/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/the-happiest-place-on-earth-a-courtroom
- Ron Paul on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Ron Paul on the Iran War, the National Debt and Flock Cameras.” (08/20/26)
- Libertarian Angle, 08/20/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Libertarian Angle: The Ten Commandments in the Public Schools?” (08/20/26)
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 594
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich & Riley talk about what Riley’s been up to while gallivanting, and will Utah run out of water if they put in a new data center.” (08/20/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/08/20/the-anarchist-experience-594/
- Speech at Cambridge University’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
Source: Cobden Centre
“I [Max Rangeley] talk through some of the complexities with respect to military AI and robotics, then talk through some different theories of consciousness, from neuroscience, physics and other fields, and what they mean for the possibility of machine consciousness.” (08/20/26)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/19/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“OOF the Creeping DSA Communism Inside the Democratic Party.” (08/19/26)
- Kibbe on Liberty, episode 400
Source: Free the People
“Socialism Still Kills.” (08/19/26)
- Dave DeCamp on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Dave DeCamp on Palestine, Iran, Somalia and the Risk of an American Nuclear Strike.” (08/19/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/19/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“The Surveillance State Comes to Your Neighborhood: Flock Safety and ALPRs w/ Ed of DeFlock.” (08/19/26)
- Soho Forum Debate: Does Gun Control Make Us Safer?
Source: Reason
“Statistician Aaron Brown and gun policy scholar Robert Spitzer debate the resolution, ‘Until there is convincing evidence that government-imposed gun control brings a net reduction in harm, all legal restrictions on adult possession of guns should be abolished.'” (08/19/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/19/does-gun-control-make-us-safer/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/19/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Good Night, Young American.” (08/19/26)
- Rising, 08/19/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signing an executive order to impose strict guidelines on data center construction.” (08/19/26)
- The Fifth Column, episode 571
Source: The Fifth Column
“Clip Roulette w/ Dictators, Demons and Democracy.” (08/19/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/clip-roulette-w-dictators-demons
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 09/19/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Not Losing the Iran War | Interview: Hal Brands.” (09/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/not-losing-the-iran-war-interview-hal-brands/
- Reason Interview: Kurt Andersen
Source: Reason
“Can America Survive Its Political Divide?” (08/19/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/19/can-america-survive-its-political-divide/
- Nonzero, 08/18/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The AI Safety Vibe Shift | Robert Wright & David Krueger.” (08/18/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 08/19/26
Source: Washington Post
“What empty pews reveal about America.” (08/19/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/what-empty-pews-reveal-about-america
- Interviews by Claire Lehmann, 08/18/26
Source: Quillette
“‘Economic Vandalism’: Geoff Wilson on Labor’s War on Australian Aspiration.” (08/18/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/08/18/capital-gains-tax-geoff-wilson-on-labors-tax-grab/
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/18/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Can Alternative Dispute Resolution be a Real Option for Libertarian Parties?” (08/18/26)